


Sparks amidst the Starlight.

by TayBartlett9000



Category: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
Genre: Arthur/Ford fun, Celebrations, Earth, Fire works, Friendship, Gen, Guy Fawkes Night, Humour, tradition
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-24
Updated: 2018-11-24
Packaged: 2019-08-28 18:33:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16728672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TayBartlett9000/pseuds/TayBartlett9000
Summary: Ford Prefect as yet knows little of the traditions upheld by the people of Earth. one of the traditions he knows nothing about is Guy Fawkes night, so when Arthur invites him to witness a fireworks display, he is surprised by what he sees. Is this   experience something he should put in the guide? A piece  of Ford and Arthur fun.





	Sparks amidst the Starlight.

The cold of  the  mid November  evening  brushed across Ford Prefect’s cheeks as he made his way to his and Arthur’s rendezvous point, unsure of precisely what his Earth born friend wanted of him this time.

 As he  hurried up the frost covered path, Ford thought over the brief and all-too  incomprehensible conversation that  had taken place between himself and Arthur just that morning. ‘Just come along to Saint James’s park at eight,’ Arthur  had told him  in a voice of slight excitement, ‘just come and  I’ll show you something worth seeing.’

Ford looked up as he approached Saint James’s park itself, catching sight of what looked to be a hundred plus  people milling around, each looking as if they weren’t entirely sure whether braving the icey chill was  worth the privilege of  seeing what they were about to see.

Scanning the people closest to where he was standing, Ford Prefect located the tall and rather nervous  looking  figure of Arthur standing at the gates. A slight smile tugged at the  corners of Ford’s mouth as he quickened his pace, moving to stand by Arthur’s side and tapping him on the shoulder.

“Alright, Arthur?” he asked through gritted teeth, thinking privately that if he had to stand out in this wind for much longer, he would more than likely turn round and return  gladly and  gratefully to his digs in  the village. He smiled at Arthur as his friend turned to  acknowledge his arrival in the midst of this vast crowd. “What’s this about then?”

Arthur’s smile was  unrestrained  as he replied, “oh, you’ll  enjoy this one Ford. They’ve got more  fireworks than  they’ve ever had before. It’s going to be amazing I reckon.”

Confused, Ford  glanced up at the star spangled heavens,  then back to  Arthur,  who was looking at  him expectantly. “What are you on about?” he asked, feeling somewhat out of  his depth once again. It was becoming a habbit.  Six years spent stranded on planet Earth had not quite  taught him everything there was  to know about this species and their odd customs. He had no idea what     fireworks were, though he would of course be unable to say this.

Arthur seemed oblivious to Ford Prefect’s inner confusion. He only smiled and said, “I know it’s a bit  late but I couldn’t make  any fire works displays  at all this week. I’ve been working.”

Shaking his head again, Ford asked, “but what are the fireworks for?”

Arthur gave Ford Prefect a funny look,  aware now that he was behaving in a decidedly  obtuse manner. “Guy Fawkes night of course,” he said in barely disguised  exasperation, “where the bloody hell have you been?”

‘On another planet,’ Ford said to himself. Out loud he said, “I don’t really have much to do with tradition. No one really told me about these things.” He knew full well that he was looking more and more like an uncultured heathen with every word he spoke but he knew also that he could do nothing about it. He frowned. Pretending to be somebody he was not was no easy task. In fact, said task was becoming harder every day.

Turning his attention to the darkened skies above him,  Arthur smiled. Ford would never know it, but Arthur thought his friend’s lack of knowledge about anything very much was not altogether unattractive. He  decided however to give his friend one last chance to salvage his pride. “Surely you know about Guy Fawkes and the gunpowder plot, don’t you?”

Ford shook his head.

“Well, back in the day,” Arthur said cheerfully, “these angry displaced catholics  decided to blow up king James  and his parliament. They sent Guy Fawkes down to the  cellar beneath the houses of  parliament   with a load of  explosives so that they could blow up the king, but the plan went wrong and Guy Fawkes was captured and executed.” He glanced from Ford’s face to the black sky and smiled in slight surprise about  how much he knew in terms of history. He had fallen asleep during most of his history lessons at school, but apparently, something had gone in and stayed there.

FordPrefect was interested inspite of himself. He had never heard of such a thing. No one on Betelgeuse had bothered much with politics. Indeed, no one on his hoeworld had ever been entirely sure what was going on politically. Ignarance was bliss. That was what everyone had always told him.   But according to his one and only Earth dwelling friend, the people of this strange blue green backwater world considered it  their right to blow up people they didn’t like. It was baffling. “And you… we celebrate that do we?” he asked.

“Sure.”

A hush fell over the assembled crowd as  their collective  attention   turned towards the entrance to the park where people  stood  with the fire works, preparing to give the  vast audience a show. Arthur gave Ford  a nudge and  the ginger haired Betelgeusian focused his own eyes on the fire works, one of which had just been released into the sky.

A ploom of blue and pink sparks exploded above the heads of the expectant group and Ford felt his sense of  auh climbing steadily. The shower of  blue and pink sparks were joined by spinning red Catherine wheels and golden stars that spread out  across the darkened heavens. As Ford and  Arthur watched the  colours    illuminating the darkness, the multi-coloured sparks were joined withexplosions of red, green and silver.

 The myriad of  lights were captivating Ford’s imagination. He had seen many a binary star. He had witnessed the slow  explosion of age-old stars and yet this display of  ethereal majesty was  above and beyond anything he had ever seen. The glittering iray of   light spreading out like a fan was accompanied with a  cacophony of  small explosions as the fireworks went off, the sounds  invoking a chorus of gasps from the  crowd gathered around Ford and Arthur who stood side  by side, both suitably impressed.

Turning to Ford once again, Arthur pulled a small package out of the pocket of his coat and unwrapped it slowly, releasing the sweet iroma of ginger into the chilly night air. “Fancy a slice of parkin?” he asked, breaking off a chunk of what looked like a cake and offering it to his friend.

Ford took it with a gracious smile and another slight shaking of the head. “What in the hell is this then?” he asked, lifting the cake to his nose and taking a cautious sniff.

Arthur already had a mouth full of the cake and paused for a moment before replying. “It’s a thing they have on fire works night in the north,” he said by way of explanation, “my parents live up in Yorkshire and my mother always bakes a huge piece of parkin for Guy Fawkes night. She sent me some but I couldn’t finish all of it on my own. Have as much as you like. It’s bloody lovely, let me tell you.”

Ford took a small bite out of the slice of cake given to him by Arthur and chewed it thoughtfully as he watched another fountain of colour exploding above his head, filling the sky with sparks of pink, blue, gold and silver. The ginger flavoured cake was not unpleasant and as he stood in the cold, Ford thought privately that some of the planet Earth’s customs were interesting enough. ‘I’ll have to put something in the guide about this,’ he told himself eagerly, making a quick mental note of everything that he had seen in the few minutes he had spent standing here. Surely, any galaxy hopping hitch hiker would give anything to see what he was currently watching. It was certainly a memory that he would take with him into space, if he ever managed to get back there. Ford removed his gaze from the brightly coloured heavens and looked instead to the man standing at his side, still munching on his mother’s home cooking. He smiled at Arthur while his eyes were focused elsewhere and reflected that the display he was watching would probably not have been as much fun if Arthur hadn’t been here to witness it with him. Visages such as the one taking place above him could only be watched with a friend Ford mused, and Arthur Dent was certainly a good friend to watch a fireworks display with.

The skies darkened and the people burst into a round of  enthusiastic applause. It was apparent that everyone had considred the display to be a spectacle.

“Enjoyed yourself, Ford?” Arthur asked, placing the rewrapped parcel back in his pocket and beckoning for his companion to follow him.   

Ford began to follow Arthur  across the thick grass of Saint James’s park, glancing up at the sky that had returned  to its customary blanket of star stroon blackness. “I did actually,” he  replied happily, falling into step beside his friend. “I enjoyed it a lot. Do you do this every year?”

Arthur nodded.

Ford grinned. “We’ll have to go again next year,”  he said as he and his friend exited the park. He would like to see that vision again. Who wouldn’t. The sparks of multi- coloured lights were still all that his mind’s eye could see. He smiled. This would be a good memory to take with him wherever the universe chose to take him.  


End file.
